


The Next Chapter

by detectivemorrilla



Category: Once Upon a Time RPF
Genre: F/F, Morrilla, Post-Finale, Smut, inspired by instagram posts, small angst in the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 20:30:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15202859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivemorrilla/pseuds/detectivemorrilla
Summary: You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.Lana could have been her next chapter, instead of the one brushed past, pushed into subtext that became nothing more than a burning look across the room, a single soft, unreturned smile before they put on their faces to act out even more subtext.God, this was such a mess.





	The Next Chapter

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by actual posts they made  
> [here is jen's](https://www.instagram.com/p/BkffW0wg6cT/?hl=en&taken-by=jenmorrisonlive)  
> [here is lana's](https://www.instagram.com/p/BkfoVggFSUo/?hl=en&taken-by=lparrilla)  
> i'm not saying any of this happened, buuut

_ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _

 

Jen had read the words so many times, she wasn’t even sure why she was still looking at the picture. 

 

This wasn’t the first time either:

 

She’d found the picture the week she’d decided to come back for the  _ Once Upon a Time  _ finale, stopping in her tracks as soon as her eyes so much as glanced the words. She’d been searching for something specific on Google, but this quote had taken her full attention.

 

She saved it to her camera roll without hesitation, the words seeping into her mind and lodging themselves there. She closed her phone and tried to distract herself with something else. She tried reading, she tried watching Netflix, but it was no use. The concept behind those words was haunting her.

 

She thought about it the entire day she’d returned to set, almost tempted to post them as she made the journey to the studio, but she thought better of it. It wasn’t  _ just _ about the show, and there was no way the fans would let her live that down. So she saved it as a draft on her Instagram and tried to forget, distracting herself with getting ready for the scene.

 

But when she walked on set and the first thing she saw was Lana, looking beyond gorgeous in her _ Good Queen _ dress, her eyes burning into Jen’s the minute she caught her gaze, the words found their way back to her, swirling into her chest and settling like a paperweight.

 

She was frozen in place as they rearranged a little in her mind, going from  _ you can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one _ to a  _ who needs a new chapter when you  _ skipped _ the last one _ .

 

Lana offered her a small smile before turning away and going about whatever she’d been doing before, and Jen let out a long, tense breath despite feeling completely breathless. She couldn’t decide if it was because she’d literally been holding her breath, or if that’s just how Lana left her feeling. It wouldn’t be the first time. 

 

Whichever the case, she didn’t have time for it. She was here to do her job and go home, not to hash out old memories.

 

Fortunately, it was a short day on set, and she spent most of it trying not to look at Lana when the cameras weren’t rolling. When they were rolling… well. Looking at Lana was most of what she did. What  _ Emma _ did.

 

Not that she minded.

 

What she  _ did _ mind were her sweaty palms and the inability to breathe normally. But then again, as long as no one noticed, she was sure it wouldn’t make a difference.

 

By the time she left the set, no one had said anything. 

 

x

 

_ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _

 

The draft came back to her every time she went to make a new post, and the more she looked at it, the more she found it in herself to believe the words she was reading, in every circumstance applicable. Not that she was giving much thought to every circumstance applicable. (She was.)

 

Especially not  _ that one circumstance _ . The skipped chapter in her  _ Once Upon a Time _ story. The chapter that could have existed but never did, in which she put aside all her denial and moved past internal stigmas and fears of judgement. She could think back to any of those moments with Lana, the two of them running lines together in her trailer, which never felt tense until Lana was in it, and imagine it going differently. 

 

This was a skipped chapter where she  _ should  _ have stopped to question why Lana’s presence changed everything, where she  _ should  _ have interrupted the reading just to close the distance between them and find out where it would take them. 

 

The chapter that would have triggered its own series of novels.

 

Again, now, the words circled back in her mind. 

 

_ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _

 

And she wondered what would have come to pass if she’d taken that advice back then. If she’d read those words then in the time of what could have been, rather than now when everything felt too late.

 

Lana could have been her next chapter, instead of the one brushed past, pushed into subtext that became nothing more than a burning look across the room, a single soft, unreturned smile before they put on their faces to act out even more subtext.

 

God, this was such a mess.

 

x

 

Jen had gotten a lot of space after leaving the show, but since it was still on the air, the attention wasn’t completely gone, nor were her thoughts on it.

 

But now that she was finished and the show was too, it seemed she had all the space in the world.

 

So why wouldn’t her brain let her have it?

 

x

 

It was exactly three months after her last day on set, give or take a day. (Not that she was counting. (She was.)) That she decided it was time to post that quote she  _ still _ couldn’t get off her mind. 

 

_ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _

 

She needed that advice now more than ever.  _ Once _ was over. It was a chapter of her life that she had no reason to keep flipping back to, so she opened Instagram, went to her drafts, and posted the quote with whatever her caption had been, not allowing herself a second thought to the action.

 

Honestly, she tried not to give it much thought at all, and she nearly succeeded until her phone lit up just over an hour later. 

 

Jen glanced at the notifications, and it only took a second for her realize which one had managed to get her attention. She took a deep breath and put her phone down, leaning back on the sofa and performing the ritual of denying that she had notifications on for Lana’s twitter posts.

 

It usually lasted only a minute before she looked.

 

This time it lasted thirty seconds.

 

It was an instagram picture, captioned with only an emoji, and not just any emoji, but the one that’s both kissing and winking, and Jen could feel her heart start to race in her chest as she clicked the link, feeling hopeful over nothing and letting a wall of thoughts crash down in her mind.

 

(Just before the picture loaded, she remembered the quote she posted only an hour ago.)

 

Lana’s post was a selfie.

 

( _ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _ )

 

Lana’s post was a selfie, the look on her face simply screaming:

 

_ Read  _ this _. _

 

Jen’s jaw dropped. Her mouth went dry. She didn’t know  _ what _ Lana’s point was when she posted that picture. She didn’t know who it was for, why she used the emoji she did… a kiss? A kiss that was  _ winking _ ? Winking at who? What were the odds that it fell so closely to her own post? Was she overthinking this? Did she really have it so bad for Lana that she was over-analyzing the random choreography of Instagram posts?

 

If it had been any other post, Jen might have dismissed it.

 

_ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _

 

If she hadn’t have been thinking of Lana when she’d posted it, Jen might have dismissed it.

 

_ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _

 

And now she was staring at the picture, Lana looking incredible, aiming for sexiness no doubt (not to mention achieving it), and all Jen could take away was 

 

_ Read  _ this _. _

 

So she did.

 

She must have been on some kind of high when she opened her contacts and scrolled down to Lana’s like she’d done it a hundred times. She didn’t even think about it until she looked back down at her phone, staring at the single word in its little blue bubble.

 

_ Hey _

 

She dropped her phone immediately, like she’d been stung, even though it was her own fingers that typed the message to Lana.

 

(She wondered what other kinds of things her fingers could do to Lana).

 

That was the point at which she stood up to move away from her phone entirely, almost too shy to even look at it. She rested her head in one hand and paced the length of the living room before collapsing into another chair, head in both hands this time.

 

She’d decided to never so much as look at her phone again when the damn thing actually rang off some tone. It was just once, and Jen groaned into her hands, not knowing how there was even a sound attached to text messages until she remembered that she set it up once so that it would do that. 

 

But only when Lana messaged her.

 

Her head popped up, and she stared at her phone, looking breathless, feeling breathless. Did Lana just…  _ no _ .  _ No way _ . She was too terrified to look, but the only thing going through her mind was  _ what if what if what if whatifwhatifwhatif _ and eventually it was so overwhelming that she was back to her original chair, phone in hand, staring down at Lana’s name attached to an unread message that likely wasn’t important but still made Jen’s heart pound nonetheless.

 

It was another two minutes before she gained the courage to open it.

 

_ Hey ;) That was a nice quote you posted earlier _

 

Jen’s heart continued to race a mile a minute, and she tried not to smile, but there was not much to be done the longer she looked at the message. She responded easily.

 

_ I could say the same about your selfie ;) _

 

She added the emoji at the last minute, not knowing exactly how she felt about it until it was looking back at her on the screen. Delivered. Read.

 

The next message made Jen’s breathing irregular. 

 

_ Are you in town? _

 

_ LA? Yeah… _

 

_ I want to see you _

 

Jen may not be able to feel her heart throbbing as it seemed to have suddenly ceased beating in her chest, but what she could feel was the warmth pooling between her legs at the idea of the word  _ want _ coming from Lana, directed at  _ her _ .

 

_ Your place or mine? _

 

It was so horribly cliche. Jen almost hated herself for saying it, but she imagined a throaty laugh from Lana as she read the message, imagined the look on her face when Jen opened the door and they come face to face for the first time in months, unprompted by nothing except sporadic instagram posts and texts that could mean nothing or everything.

 

_ Yours. _

 

Lana said. And then

 

_ I’ll be over in an hour _

 

It was Jen’s cue to panic, wondering what she would do with Lana arriving at her house It wasn’t like the place was  _ messy _ , but she couldn’t help but wonder what was going to go through Lana’s mind when she was walking through. Would she like it?

 

And not to mention, walking through to  _ where _ ? What kind of interaction would this be?

 

It was more intimate than meeting up in one of their trailers to read lines, or in a group related event of some kind.

 

This was personal, individual, and Jen wasn’t even sure what it was Lana wanted, other than the generic answer: to see her. That could mean anything.

 

Before she knew it, the doorbell rang, and she opened the door before she could even consider what she was wearing. Fortunately, it was nothing horrible. It was casual in the way that says she wasn’t planning on having guests, which may work in her favor considering that Lana hadn’t changed since she took her selfie from earlier.

 

But she was given an hour to prepare… Maybe it hinders her more than helps.

 

“Hey,” Lana said. Her voice was easier to read than her expression. She sounded a little nervous and a little in disbelief, like she couldn’t believe she was standing where she was. Honestly, Jen couldn’t blame her.

 

“Hi,” Jen says back, and she wanted to kick herself for sounding so much like a scared little puppy, but then Lana smiled, so maybe it could be worse. Jen held the door open, stepping back so Lana could enter, and as the door clicked shut, she took the opportunity to gulp. Her nerves were really starting to get the better of her. “So, what brings you here?”

 

Lana turned to look at her wearing an amused expression. “I told you I wanted to see you. Do you not believe me?”

 

“I mean…  _ yeah _ , I do believe you, but we haven’t exactly  _ seen _ each other in a while,” Jen pointed out, walking Lana through the house and into the kitchen, automatically getting a glass of water for them each. 

 

“You were the one who texted me… so maybe I should be asking you about that.”

 

The direction of the conversation caught her off guard, though she should have expected it, and she was immediately grateful for the water she now had in her hand. Using it as a temporary distraction, she drank nearly the whole glass before blurting out, “Your selfie was--” but she cut herself off before she could give anything away.

 

Of course, Lana didn’t miss it.

 

She never did.

 

Her eyebrows raised, and her lips quirked up just enough to drive Jen mad. “Was…  _ what _ ?”

 

“It was hot,” Jen mumbled into her glass of water, hoping that Lana couldn’t understand her or would do that polite thing where, if you don’t hear someone and you don’t want to ask them to tell you twice in a row, you just nod and let it slide with a simple change of topic.

 

Of course, Lana didn’t do that.

 

She never did.

 

And actually, Jen was sure that Lana actually got it the first time, judging by the way she took a step closer, the way she sipped from her own glass before licking her lips, and then with another step closer to the other woman, reached around her to set the glass on the counter, her chest pressing against Jen’s.

 

Lana’s dark eyes remain locked on hers the entire time, and Jen swore she stopped breathing.

 

“It was what?” Lana asked again, looking very much like she knew exactly what.

 

The hungry look the brunette had in her eyes was one Jen imagined being on the receiving end of countless times. On set, in her trailer reading lines, in her shower… And now that it was happening, she almost couldn’t believe it. But at the same time, Jen knew what she wanted, and the last thing she thought about before her hands found Lana’s ass were those stupid words.

 

_ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _

 

She gripped Lana’s ass and almost groaned just at the contact alone, at the way Lana’s eyes seemed to darken with a knowing gaze, and as the tension that had been building between them for seven years started to boil over the surface, Jen considered that maybe the chapters didn’t  _ have _ to be linear.

 

Jen’s gaze travelled down to Lana’s lips, just as her tongue peeked out to wet them once more. 

 

_ Read  _ this.

 

She wouldn’t skip this chapter again.

 

When their lips met, they groaned in sync with each other, and the tension just exploded. Jen’s body burned with want, and Lana’s seemed to react the same way as she pushed Jen back against the counter, her tongue making its way into her mouth at the first opportunity. Her hands tugged hard on blonde hair, while Jen squeezed hard on Lana’s ass, pulling her forward, desperate for friction.

 

When their mouths broke apart and Lana’s head fell back, Jen took advantage of the moment, reversing their positions so that Lana’s back was to the counter. She didn’t hesitate before sucking on the soft skin just below the woman’s ear, careful not to leave too dark of a mark before making a soft trail down her neck. She sucked harder at the woman’s pulse point, less worried about the places all those neck scarves could cover, and Lana let out an encouraging whimper at the contact.

 

Jen’s hands were on Lana’s hips, teasing the line just at the hem of her shirt, waiting for Lana’s signal to slip her hands underneath but then she felt her own shirt being tugged up and chuckled as she let Lana pull it the whole way off. “Someone’s impatient.”

 

“You can’t talk,” Lana mumbled as she brought her lips back to Jen’s, her hand tracing along the blonde’s bare chest, down her torso and finally to her thigh where it was wedged between her legs, a reminder that Jen was no more patient than Lana. Maybe even less so.

 

_ Definitely less so _ , Jen thought as she pushed forward even more, loving the way Lana moaned against her lips and clawed at her back. She took the chance to slip her hands under Lana’s shirt, gasping at the smooth skin there. Lana’s hands left Jen’s body long enough to pull her own flannel off, and Jen followed suit, urging the shirt off underneath it, groaning when she saw that the woman wasn’t wearing a bra.

 

Jen looked to Lana as if asking for permission, and the brunette looked back, hooded eyes darkening as her fingers trailed down the other woman’s arms, leading her hands to her bare chest. “Touch me, Jen.”

 

She exhaled slowly as Lana’s hands dropped, leaving the blonde’s alone, hovering just underneath each of the woman’s breasts. Jen slowly grazed her thumbs over taut nipples, revelling in the sight before her. It was something she’d imagined for so long, and she almost couldn’t believe she no longer had to imagine.

 

Her eyes slowly drifted back up Lana’s chest, over her neck, back to her eyes. The other woman was taking heavy breaths, and as Jen’s gaze moved up, her fingers trailed along not too far behind until her hands rested at the base of Lana’s jaw.

 

Their next kiss was slow and controlled, validation that they both were exactly where they wanted to be, if either of them needed the affirmation. Jen wasn’t sure she did.

 

Her entire body  _ ached _ for Lana. 

 

She wasn’t sure what she wanted more, to touch Lana or be touched by Lana, to keep kissing her or to hoist her on this countertop, part her legs, and lap up her sweet taste until she had it dribbling down her chin. The thought had her so aroused she moaned against Lana’s mouth, a tremble against her lips, and the woman responded by catching Jen’s lower lip between hers and pulling back, gentle and intoxicating. 

 

Jen nudged her thigh even closer to Lana, pressing against her center, and the brunette gasped as her head fell back. Her breathing became more erratic when Jen’s lips went back to her throat, when her hands fell back to her breasts, and even more when Jen dipped down enough to trace around a nipple with her tongue before sucking hard.

 

Lana’s hips jerked against Jen’s body, a loud, throaty sound escaped her lips, and the blonde craved nothing more than to hear that same noise over and over again. She grazed the peak of Lana’s breast just slightly with her teeth before moving to the next, sucking more as her tongue brushed against the nipple. She released it with a pop when Lana’s hands pulled on her hair to bring her back up.

 

“Yes, your majesty?” Jen teased.

 

“Don’t call me that,” Lana answered, her voice raspy and thick with desire.

 

Jen chuckled, nuzzling into dark hair, her lips brushing against Lana’s ear. She nipped at it before whispering, “Will you let me treat you like a queen? Give you what you deserve?”

 

Lana swallows hard. “And what do I deserve?” The roughness of Lana’s voice awakened a fire in Jen, the kind of burning desire she wasn’t sure she even believed was possible before today, and instead of answering the question with words, she crashed her lips back against Lana’s and let her hands roam down olive skin to her hips.

 

They lingered there for a moment, ghosting back up over the soft skin of her waist before dipping back down. Each of Jen’s index fingers slipping under the waistband of Lana’s pants, her knuckles pressing into the dip by Lana’s hip bones and her thigh finding its place between Lana’s legs once more.

 

“Jen, please,” Lana murmured against the blonde’s lips, her body jerking forward against Jen’s thigh, and any doubts Jen had about not changing out of her shorts disappeared when she felt the other woman’s pussy through her thin pants, warm and slick against her leg. “Please,” she repeated in a desperate sigh.

 

Watching Lana grind against her made every part of Jen’s body throb with want, made her mouth water, and when the woman’s lips brushed against her ear before she whispered again, her voice more desperate, “Please, Jen. Give me what I want,” the blonde couldn’t hold back her own moan.

 

Her fingers traced around the edge of Lana’s pants, quickly undoing the drawstring before letting her hands snaked underneath the thin fabric, back around to the woman’s bare ass. When she spoke, her voice was deep and almost unrecognizable in her arousal. “What do you want?” she finally asked, nearly choking on her words when it dawned on her that Lana wasn’t wearing any underwear.

 

Lana panted against her neck as she grasped at Jen’s shorts, simultaneously trying to pull them off and pull her closer. “Fuck me, Jen.”

 

She almost lost her control right then and there, but something about the situation made her want to tease. “Or what?”

 

Lana wet her lips as she smirked. “Or I’ll do it myself. Wouldn’t be the first time.” The thought that Lana had fucked herself, rocking against her hand while thinking of  _ her _ , made Jen’s head spin. Her pussy clenched with need and she groaned as she shifted around, one of her hands latching onto Lana’s dark hair, the other still in her pants, tracing the smooth skin around her hip bone to the space between her legs.

 

As soon as Jen’s fingers slipped into wet folds, the two of them moaned together. “You’re so wet for me,” Jen gasped as she stroked Lana’s pussy before slipping two fingers inside, not wanting to wait. 

 

Lana’s moan turned into a needy whimper as her hands roamed the blonde’s body, one settling around her back, another in her hair as she rode Jen’s fingers, making little noises with each thrust. She moaned louder when Jen started rubbing her thumb over her clit. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” Jen murmured as she watched Lana start to unravel at her touch, her entire body on fire as the brunette’s back arched against the kitchen counter, as her legs started to tremble against Jen’s.

 

When Lana came, Jen could feel her tighten around her fingers, and she watched in awe as the woman cried out her name between gasps for breath. As Jen slowed her movements and slid her fingers from Lana, the other woman draped her arms over Jen’s shoulders, pulling them flush together as she nuzzled into blonde hair with a content sigh. 

 

Jen chuckled and held Lana close, looping her arms around her waist, relaxing against her. She hadn’t even been sated by the other woman’s touch, but she felt satisfied nonetheless, pleased with the turn of events. Lana’s lips pressed softly against her neck. “I’m really glad you texted me,” she said, pulling back to meet her eyes. “That picture was for you, you know. I didn’t want you to move on before we got our chance.”

 

“I wasn’t sure we had a chance,” Jen softly admitted. “I’m still worried we don’t. That this is somehow a fluke.”

 

The brunette responded with a casual shrug. “It’s like your quote, Jen.  _ You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. _ ”

 

“Are you saying this is the next chapter?” Jen asked, her heart pounding hopeful in her chest.

 

Lana kissed her once before grinning. “Take me upstairs and let’s find out.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I would love to hear what you thought of this! (unless you're gonna be rude then pls go elsewhere)


End file.
